Summary of application analysis for photovoltaic systems

The results of the studies to date indicate cost effectiveness of consumer-owned photovoltaic systems in many regions in 1986 and everywhere by 2000, providing DOE price goals are met. Battery storage should be considered an integral part of only smaller (residential, remote) photovoltaic systems. The economic justification of battery storage in larger systems, especially utility owned ones, is relatively independent of the presence of the photovoltaic array. The greatest general area of uncertainty in all sectors is the utility-customer interface for consumer owned systems, and the worth of the photovoltaic system to the utility for utility owned systems.